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Nearly a quarter-million dollars that was not paid to the Luzerne County Transportation Authority last year because of a cash crunch in county government will be delivered this week, according to administration officials.

Brian Swetz, the county's budget and financial services division head, said Wednesday that a $242,672 payment due to the LCTA in November was delayed because of the cash-flow shortage the county is experiencing. Property tax bills were mailed late this year because county council re-opened the budget and decided on a last-minute return to a system of elected tax collectors.

The late payment to the LCTA emerged as an issue Wednesday when Executive Director Stanley Strelish sent county Manager Robert Lawton a letter seeking clarification on the timing of a $316,000 funding cut.

Luzerne County Council in February voted to slash LCTA funding in the 2014 budget by $316,000 in the wake of the "ghost rider" scandal after the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation demanded a $3.16 million refund from the LCTA, saying the authority had inflated its senior ridership by hundreds of thousands of people.

In the letter, Strelish notes council approved a resolution last May appropriating $485,344 to the LCTA for this fiscal year.

Strelish wrote that the authority did not receive a scheduled payment of $242,672 in November, and noted that May 1 "is approaching quickly."

The letter concludes by asking for clarification on which fiscal year will be affected by the cut council made in February.

Council Chairman Rick Morelli noted the LCTA has a cash reserve it can use to cover local funding that is matched by state grants and said it appeared the LCTA was "playing games."

"We made it very clear that LCTA needs to use that money in that slush fund that they have to get those grants," Morelli said. "We have no intentions of crippling the LCTA and their matches. It was clearly for one year, that was it."

In a phone interview Wednesday, Strelish said he had "no idea" when council intended the $316,000 cut to take effect, and that the authority was seeking clarification.

"We don't know what fiscal year it pertains to. They weren't specific, so we need to know that," Strelish said. "Either year, it doesn't make a difference to us, but we need to know specifically so we know how to budget for next year."

Strelish said the authority has about $400,000 in local match reserves that can cover the cut, but he also noted that council's resolution last May was a binding agreement that initiated some $4.5 million in funding from PennDOT.

Swetz said the county will be sending the payment this week, along with a letter explaining that council slashed the authority's roughly $500,000 in funding for this calendar year.

"This is a 2013 bill and it will be paid, but we revised the allocation that we're paying for 2014," Swetz said.

Whether the cut would be split between semi-annual payments to the authority or would be taken in one installment had not yet been decided, he said.

The LCTA has administratively appealed PennDOT's findings that the authority greatly exaggerated senior ridership since at least fiscal year 2005-2006, resulting in millions in state funding overpayments.

Earlier this month, LCTA's board voted to pay up to $25,000 for a South Pasadena, Calif.-based travel behavior analyst to conduct an independent review of the numbers.

The state Attorney General's Office is also investigating the matter.

jhalpin@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2058, @cvjimhalpin

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